Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

September 2, 2012

 

                How is it that Domestic Violence has become so publicized lately? Well folks, we can thank rapper Chris Brown for this. I am sure you have heard (and if you haven’t I would assume you have been on a deserted island) that Chris Brown beat up his then girlfriend, Rihanna back in 2009. Now, it was all over Entertainment Tonight and TMZ for months. Leaked photos of the pop singer’s bruised faced graced the cover of magazines and was the spotlight of so many gossip cover stories. It has been an on-going topic in the pop culture world for the past three years, with the court dates, restraining order and the possibility of these two getting back together. Then, it all died down…until now.

          Rihanna just did an interview with Oprah for Miss O’s network special “Oprah’s New Beginnings”. The singer sat down with Oprah to discuss her life, music and the infamous incident that took place in 2009. The Barbadian native spoke openly about the traumatic event as well as showed her vulnerability by admitting her love for her once boyfriend and how she will always love him. Many people just don’t understand how a person could still feel this way about a person who could treat them so horribly. Others may have some form of understanding if they have some experience with the matter.

          I grew up in a house built of Domestic Violence. My mother and father were in a tumultuous marriage and it became physical. It usually started out the same way: mom would nag or start a fight with dad, dad stated he didn’t want to argue and wanted to be left alone, mom wouldn’t allow that and then Bam! The next thing you knew a full fight broke out and my dad then became someone unfamiliar to me. He became a monster. First it was a slap, then a fist. Eventually things became worse and objects were used. My mother was stabbed in the back with a screwdriver when I was three years old. A leg was broken off the coffee table and used to beat my mom (the cops had to tear them apart from one another).

          Yes, my dad went to jail on multiple occasions, but for some strange reason my mom would drop the charges and things would be okay..until the next big fight. It was a never ending cycle. I don’t remember many of these instances, just one in particular. We lived in a god awful apartment and my parents began their usual routine. I remember sitting on the floor in the living room area watching cartoons with my little brother. My mom was standing with her back against the wall and my dad was facing her. I remember watching them, but wasn’t scared. I knew this wasn’t my dad. My dad swung back and before the blow could make contact with my mother, she moved and my dad’s hand made contact with a porcelain mask hanging on the wall. My dad’s hand disappeared and all I could see was red. Red everywhere, dripping ever so quickly down the wall. As quickly as the red came so did the screams and within seconds my mother scooped my brother and I up and headed for the door. Where was I going? I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to leave my dad, he was hurt. Why was she doing this?

          I could hear my dad’s screams outside. I remember crying and yelling at my mom to let me go so I could go back to daddy. We drove off. It felt like we were in another state, but suddenly my mom stopped. We turned around and I could tell we were heading back. I had never been so happy. When we entered the apartment all I could remember was the entire kitchen floor was covered in deep, dark red. My cat was licking the red. Her paws were pink. My dad was grabbing his arm, but no sound was coming. Sirens. I heard loud, close sirens.  I still can hear those sirens.

          Even though this incident occurred when I was under the age of six, I remember this so vividly. My dad had cut open a main artery and had to have a blood transfusion. My parents divorced a year or so after this. My father has no signs of this monster that came out around my mother. And as I remember back upon this memory, I realize that this was the first time I hated my mother. I know from this particular relationship, I set boundaries up for myself as a woman, as a person that I would never allow myself or my future children to experience this. Domestic Violence isn’t funny and it is very serious. Rihanna was lucky she was able to get the help she needed and famous or not, will have to live with that incident the rest of her life. As glamorous as celebrities are, they aren’t excluded from real life situations.

 

Until the next celebrity news breaks,

Chasity Juliano